Steve Martin, Martin Short, and The Steep Canyon Rangers rolled into Buffalo for an evening of comedy and music at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. There was an “audience participation” skit based on The Three Amigos. The Steep Canyon Rangers played a song from their new Blue Grass album. My favorite part of the performance was Steve Martin’s “ventriloquist” bit where Martin Short appears as the “dummy.” Very funny. To jog memories, an overhead video showed some of the highlights of both Steve Martin and Martin Short on Saturday Night Live and scenes from their movies, too. If you’re in the mood for a couple hours of laughs, I’d recommend the Martin & Short comedy evening (aka, “Glad We Saw Them Before They’re Dead”). MARTIN SHORT: GRADE: A
STEVE MARTIN: GRADE: C
I remember Steve Martin from the early SNL – what a joy!
Now I’m in Germany , hard working/cleaning up – no time for TV!
Anyway our selection, especially of US stuff is very limited – most of the series are dubbed into German anyway, not my taste …
Wolf, I watch Netflix and HULU a lot. U.S. network TV has become very bland.
Martin can be very funny, but his pretentiousness and condescending attitude is a turn-off. We saw him in concert in his early, arrow-through-the-wind/”Let’s Get Small”/King Tut days and he was great. The last time we saw him live was with the Steep Canyon Rangers at Jazzfest in New Orleans, which was good, but otherwise I’d rather remember him as he was when he used to be funny, a “Wild and Crazy Guy!’
Jeff, I think Steve Martin peaked in the 1980s. Martin Short was clearly funnier the night we saw them.
It was supposed to say “arrow-through-the-head” up there, obviously.
Jeff, Martin Short summed the evening up when he said, “It’s like the movie DELIVERANCE, all fun and games until the banjos come out.”
Jackie reminded me of the first time we went to see Steve Martin in concert. It was at what was then called the Garden State Arts Center (now the PNC Bank Arts Center), where he was the opening act for …wait for it…Andy Williams! “Surreal” is one word that sums it up. We went with a couple of our friends, and there were a scattering of other people who were obviously there to see Steve – like the guy with the arrow through his head. He was great. Jackie insisted we stay for the “main” act, but after Andy sang the “Theme From ROCKY” and a couple of other misfires, we left. By the time of “King Tut,” Steve was headlining at Radio City Music Hall. Jackie used the song in her classes for years.
Jeff, “King Tut” was another high point of Steve Martin’s career.
Saw them do their bit on the Salute to David Letterman — Brilliant together!
Dan, Martin Short and Steve Martin had great comic chemistry on stage. The jokes came fast and furious!
In the special needs classroom where I work, we have a weekly current events newsletter called News-2-You. A few weeks ago, it covered the opening of the new King Tut exhibit and we showed the Steve Martin “King Tut” video which the kids enjoyed. It occurred to me as I watched it that the clip was over 40 years old! How did that happen?
I have a vague memory of Steve Martin playing the banjo on the Smothers Brothers show—or is that an age-induced hallucination?
I’ve always like Martin Short better than Steve Martin—especially the work he did on SCTV back in the late 1970s (possibly early 1980s). One particularly good character was named Jackie Rogers, Jr., an amalgam of aging crooners still desperately trying to be hip.
Here’s a representative clip. (I wonder if Mike Meyers was influenced by that accent when he was developing Austin Powers.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WxcClAFZRBI
Deb, I agree with you. I find Martin Short funnier than Steve Martin. But they made a great comedy team the night we saw them. Wall to wall laughs!
Deb, I found it on youtube – May 22, 1978 (coming up on 40 years) was the King Tut on SNL.
Go to youtube and look for Steve Martin Does Magic. It has a 21 year old Martin on the Smothers Brothers show doing a comedy magic bit. No banjo, though. He was one of their writers then,
Jeff, Steve Martin told the audience that he was 72 years old and had been performing for 50 years (Martin Short is 68).
Martin does all sorts of things now. We have seen several plays he wrote, read his novels, seen his art. He has a banjo album or two. Perhaps he spreads himself a little thin.
Patti, I’m puzzled why Steve Martin and Martin Short would want to ride around the country in a tour bus doing these performances. They played to an older crowd.
Glad you enjoyed your evening out to see the show. I always thought he was the least funny of that original SNL crew, and never much liked his humor style.
Rick, I found Steve Martin was funniest when he was doing physical comedy (like ALL OF ME).
Neither Martin nor Short were original SNL cast members. Steve Martin was never a cast member. Martin Short was hired for the 1984-85 season.